#captureyourgrief 2016 #whathealsyou Day 6 Empthay

Empathy

Emotion -  its ok to show us your emotions, its our grief but we are fully aware that our story and our girl mattered to you to, showing us your emotion is ok, you will not upset us you will show us how much you care and that means so much to us.

Milestones - Through loosing our girl, we have lost our future with her, we have lost every little milestone, her first words, firsts steps, first birthday, first everything and this is our forever we will always be missing out on these milestones, help us on birthdays to celebrate her, help us to remember her, a little message to say I'm thinking of you today is all we need.

Patience - Allow us time, time to grieve, be patient with us as we try and find our way again, yes we will be a pain in the ass most of the time, but please don't give up on us, stick with us and with a little patience you'll help us through.

Advice - This is one where everyone wants to make you feel better, they have opinions and say all the not so helpful wrong things ;-) , reality is nothing will make us feel better, my advise is just be there you don't have to try and say the right things or try and say things as to why our baby isn't here, trust me you just being present is all we need.

Talk - Talk to us, talk about our baby this is what helps more than anything, you don't need to fill the silence with a random conversation, just talk to us, ask us how we are really feeling, how we are really doing, as time passes and you see us smiling again know we are still hurting so talk to us continue talking to us.

Hug - Hugs!! A big hug, everyone likes a hugs even me who can be totally awkward to one hugs help too. Hugs show love and that you care and this is what matters.

Aware - There will be triggers all over that remind us of what we are missing, so if you notice a silence, a little smile with a tear in our eyes, be aware that we are remembering and probably thinking of what would have been, how they would have been.

Years - As time passes, days into weeks. months into years,no matter how much times has passed, we will always be missing our little baby, our arms will still ache for them and our hearts will always be scarred with our babys print of life and love. Take time each year on their special date to remember them with us.

Kyla Sian O'Rourke our precious little angel above

Remember her with us.

#captureyourgrief 2016 #whathealsyou Day 5 The unspoken

The unspoken

Miscarriage, baby loss, child loss this is the unspoken

1 in 4 people experience a loss

1 in 4!!! There are so many people who have experienced this deep heartache, so many people who are scared to talk about it, so many people who don't have support, who keep it all bottled in like they should move on and not to live in the past, its the unspoken taboo subject of miscarriage, baby loss and child loss.
Death touches us all no one can escape it, everyone will grieve and suffer the heartache of loss during the life.
So why when it comes to the miscarriage,baby loss and children should people feel like they cant talk about it.....
I always vowed i would never not speak about Kyla but there have been times when the question comes at me, is this your only baby speaking about my boy, i hate that sometimes i have answered yes, i have answered yes because i don't want to go there and see that look in peoples eyes, the shock, why is she telling me this, the pity in peoples faces and ok lets move on quickly.
No lets not move on quickly let me speak of my girl saying her name just for a second means the world.
I know its hard to hear, i know you cant help but be shocked and look at me with the sadness in your eyes, i know you want to move on quickly in fear of upsetting me.
But please know when i haven't acknowledged my girl through fear of hurting you, or fear of you thinking of me differently, its cut me like a knife and i have hated myself. If i do have the courage to answer no this is my second child, i lost my baby girl, don't brush me off too fast, let me tell you her name so i can tell you she mattered and she is loved beyond the world itself. It wont upset me i live with it daily its my forever.
Lets break the silence and make it something that people feel they can speak about freely just like death at an old age we can easily speak of this so lets make this subject the same.
My poor nana lost a baby girl, and hardly ever spoke of her, i would hear her name every so often, no one knows what happened, no one knows what she looked like or her birth weight, my nana had to carry on because back then that's how it was, how she coped i don't know i admire her strength so much.
Times have changed and we now have the voices and the opportunity to speak more about this, there are many social groups around many people spreading the awareness, as 1 in 4 means there are so many of us.
Capture your grief blows social media up the number of people participating is huge which speaks volumes, spread the awareness and let this not be the unspoken.
Every baby/child mattered and forever will.

#captureyourgrief 2016 #whathealsyou Day 4 Support Circles

Support Circles

This was totally crucial for me after losing Kyla, i had my mum & dad bless them who had flown over from the UK, my husbands family,the support of my family from the UK,but mum and dad couldn't stay forever, some people had no idea how to help or be there for us,some people just walked away, life carried on, but for me i was stuck in that moment wrapped up in grief, i needed people who had been in my shoes i needed to know that it was possible to survive as i didn't think i could.
I found my support through Sands a charity for bereaved families who had suffered a loss.
I met some amazing people who in the first 12 months and on going were & are my best support, they got it, they showed me you could survive, although still a very lone journey just to know people who actually understood meant everything. They know the pain like no other & i have been blessed to meet so many beautiful angel mamas.
As time has passed i guess you don't lean on that support as much, we all try to not move on but move through, but you know they are always there for you there is a bond that only angel mamas know it links us together. We like to think our babies aren't alone they have each other just as we have each other.
Family played a huge part too, having that support and knowing they will always love and remember Kyla means the most, my best friend Sarah everyday without fail sent me messages just to let me know she was there & she cared that was support and a true best mate. My best mates here in NZ let me say her name and are there if i want to speak about her, not too many people want to know or are too scared to upset us, just by saying her name allows us to know you care and that Kyla mattered.
You loose people through loss unfortunately and we have learnt this but the ones who have stayed and walked by our side that is true support, they are all our support circles.

I lost my child today

This poem speaks volumes, time moves on so fast, people come and people go, so many things change, the world carries on, days and months and now years are drifting away,but one thing that still remains is the ache and the pain of losing you and missing you.
I feel it right in my heart just as I did the day you were taken away. It hurts so much.
This ache you can feel, the one that takes your breathe away, the ache that aches for you my little girl it will never go away forever and a day it will be their aching away, I know its a broken heart, one that will never heal, its your space, where all my love and my hurt for you lies, no one can ever heal this ache.

I love you and I miss you more and more, each day I think of you, I think of you when I wake, when your little brother smiles, when a little girl walks by, your always on my mind.
I do feel guilty that I don't have the time I used to, to sit and grieve and cry and go through the memoires of you, that time is filled with your little beautiful brother, but when he's sleeping, that time becomes yours again.
I think of the what ifs, what would you be doing now, what would you look like, would you be cheeky like your little brother, would you be giggly, tickalish, what would your hair be like, what would you like, dislike.....so many thoughts beginning with what would.
22 months old what would you be like.........

I struggle to look at your pictures and this kills me, but its hurts me so much, it takes me right back and I just cant handle it, I think having your little brother here its right their in my face, this is what I should have had with you, and that destroys me, its not fair and its not right, you should be here my girl. All the things Charlie is doing, saying dada,baba,mama, nearly crawling, laughing, his cheeky personality shinning through, its all new and its amazing and I adore him so much but I also know that I should have had all this with you my little girl and I had none of it none.

I'm just so sorry Ky, I still feel like I did something wrong, the place in me were you grew into this beautiful beautiful little girl, was also the place that took you away, me, my body, it took you away, I had no idea and that kills me and forever will.

I wrote the above a while ago, didnt post it for whatever reason.
Just read it now and nothing has changed I lost my child, my heart still aches, this post still stands just as it did a few months back when i wrote it.

#captureyourgrief 2016 #whathealsyou Day 3 What it felt like

What it felt like.......


A nightmare, the worst nightmare you could ever imagine, and its on repeat, playing over and over & over. Every part of it you grasp onto, questioning, re living, not wanting to forgot, not wanting to remember.
I will never forgot that moment that turned from the most happiest moment of my life to the worst moment of my life, which i hate saying because there is nothing about my girl that is a nightmare its the events that took place, the greif that gripped my life and pulled it apart, its holding her in my arms while she slipped away yet i had only just saw her sweet precious beautiful little heart flickering away before the whole thing began.
Being told that there was nothing that could be done and that the best thing was to take her of life support as there was no hope, making that desicion to take her off, none of it felt real like i was  wathcing somebodys else's life crashing around them getting glimpses now and again...
oh no its me its us, its our baby girl lying their.
Leaving that hospital without her, coming home to a emtpy house, a perfect babys girls room sat there empty, a hospital bag full of new born baby girls clothes, knowing that nothing none of this was ever going to be worn or used, that feeling i cant even describe i dont have the words for how that felt.

I think this image shows it best, in her room, sat on the chair i should have been feeding and rocking her in, looking at a box that contained the only things from the hospital that touched her, the only sweet precious memories we had, holding a teddy that was now my baby as it has her ashes in the back, that raw feeling of emptiness.

EMPTY is how it felt.

#captureyourgrief #whathealsyou Day 2 Who they are

Who they are

KYLA SIAN O'ROURKE 7-3-14 

A question that will follow my around for the rest of my life, always wondering who you would be but what i do know is who you are right now to me in this moment and the moments that follow forver, your my first born, my little girl, my twinkling star, my angel above, you are my world, your my inspiration, you are the reason, you are who you are Kyla Sian O'Rourke, our little girl who changed our world, our little girl who lit up our hearts even through the devestation, your smile and your beauty the memories you gave us and the love you opened our hearts up to is you.

From the moment i found out i was pregnant and all the moments that follow, you became all the above, it is who you are and who you will always be.

#captureyourgrief 2016 #whathealsyou Day 1 sunrise

Sunrise

You are my sunrise & you are my sunset, your my first thought and my last thought, just as the sun rises and as the sunsets.
A sunrise is a beautiful thing, just like you.
The light and the beauty that shine emerging over a calm sea, the sky colourful and vibrant.
This is what i picture when i think of you & a sunrising, bringing a new day and a new beginning.